


By My Side

by kronerose



Category: Yuri!!! on Ice (Anime)
Genre: Aged-Up Character(s), Fluff, Light Angst, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-25
Updated: 2016-12-25
Packaged: 2018-09-12 00:34:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,331
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9048268
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kronerose/pseuds/kronerose
Summary: Yuri finds what little energy he can muster when his vision clears up to curl his fingers over the hand on his cheek. JJ freezes, but only for a moment to meet his eyes before the older male gathers him into his chest, enveloping him in an embrace that warms the cold fingers holding Yuri’s heart captive behind bars of ice.“You scared me there, chaton.” JJ mumbles into his hair. His heart — big, generous and strong — thumps loudly from where Yuri’s ear is pressed against his chest. “My heart almost stopped.”





	

**Author's Note:**

> sorry not sorry for the dubious summary? since it's christmas and there's not much pliroy fanfics, here's one for everyone! this fic is unbeta'd so please excuse any mistakes.

 

Yuri doesn’t register the dusting of snow gathering on the windowsills, only the number of times the blade of his skates hit the ice in yet another poorly executed lutz. He huffs, frustratingly pushing strands of corn-silk hair, that fell loose from his ponytail, from his face and tries again. He puts momentum into his skates, gliding smoothly, agile, across the ice and propels himself into a series of jumps, landing every one of them but the final lutz. He curses into the empty rink, loud and clear, when his failed jump sequence almost landed him on his face if he hadn’t caught himself just in the nick of time before toppling over. He thanks his lucky stars that there’s no one around to see that embarrassing flounder of his, or else he’ll never be able to live that down.

It’s late, the sun has set and he’s worn out. He feels it in his legs, the coiled tension in his muscles struggling to just keep himself standing upright. Compared to the grueling training back in the days under Yakov and Lilia’s guidance, the past four hours he spent perfecting his jump sequence should have been a piece of cake.

It’s gratifying to realize that he’s completely out of breath, practically wheezing to suck much needed oxygen into his lungs, and he’s trembling down to his very fingertips from fatigue. Has he really aged that much in the years? Mentally, he’s always been far more mature in comparison to the others in his age group, feeling older than he really is. An old soul trap in a young boy’s body. But as years passed, it seems that his body has finally caught up to his state of mind. Still, Yuri’s barely twenty-six and yet he feels like he’s about to throw a hip.

His better judgment is convincing him to give it a rest, but Yuri is far too stubborn and proud for his own good to call it quits for the day. He can’t allow himself to give up just yet, not when he’s so close to perfecting the jump sequence he spent the better half of last week re-vamping, just to accommodate the wow-factor needed to awe the judges and his audience for the upcoming competition next month.

It’s getting increasingly difficult to survive in the world of competitive figure skating. The expectations are staked impossibly high as years go by, demanding more and more difficult performances each season. New talents continue to rise, fresh faces that are twice as daring, ten times more charismatic, and years younger are threatening his place at the top. Yuri is barely keeping himself afloat in the rushing waters, fighting tooth-and-nail for what his hard-work and dedication deserved while everyone else seems keen on watching him drown in the icy cold water.

A part of him has always wondered. Maybe it would’ve been better to have retired after his fifth gold at the Grand Prix Finale, like everyone was sure he would, was silently hoping for him to. It would have been a glorious final sentence in the last chapter of his book that demands people to remember forever, to make it’s mark in history, setting it in stone for others to look and admire. It sure would have been a better ending for him. Yuri could have saved himself from the endless struggles he found himself caught in for the past two years.

But the fire inside him, though it no longer burns as bright and as dangerous as it did in the past, fuels his determination to keep pushing on, to thrive on the edge of glory, to milk every last drop of success it still has to offer. Yuri sees it all as one big challenge, one that determines the kind of hero he’ll be written as in his own story.

He could be a hero, full of pride and greed, that built himself far too high up only to end up crumbling down and destroying what was left of himself. Or he could be the greatest hero of them all, the one that fought countless great battles on his own and conquered the earth and the sky, draped in gold and glory as people kissed the path he strode on.

But with every failure, with every mistake he makes, the more cracks are formed in his vision and the smaller the flame inside him becomes until he’s left feeling cold on the inside.

Yuri builds himself up for one more jump, because this could be it, this has to be it. He realizes the moment he makes that final jump that he isn’t going to land it. It’s a crushing and brutal final awakening call that hurts more than the fall. Yuri’s breath gets knocked out of him and the world turns pitch black for a single moment. He is lifted into strong arms, cradled against a solid, beating chest. A hand is brushing his hair out of his face, gently shaking him as panic fills the ice rink, resounding off the walls in eruptions.

Yuri finds what little energy he can muster when his vision clears up to curl his fingers over the hand on his cheek. JJ freezes, but only for a moment to meet his eyes before the older male gathers him into his chest, enveloping him in an embrace that warms the cold fingers holding Yuri’s heart captive behind bars of ice.

“You scared me there, _chaton_.” JJ mumbles into his hair. His heart — big, generous and strong — thumps loudly from where Yuri’s ear is pressed against his chest. “My heart almost stopped.”

“Liar,” Yuri interjects. He pulls back to look into cerulean eyes, weakly slapping a hand against JJ’s chest. “It’s beating so fast.”

JJ sighs, helping him sit up. “That’s because I thought you might have hurt yourself in that fall.” Despite his protests, the dark haired male insists on inspecting him from head to toe for any injuries. He seems to be holding his breath until he’s done with his examination, frowning at the mild bruise forming on Yuri’s side under his shirt and the purpling skin of an elbow. “Those are going to hurt for a few days. Does anywhere else hurt?”

Bruises are nothing new, neither are cuts and blisters from the ice, but Yuri lets himself indulge in the feeling of being fussed over by his boyfriend. “I’m fine, _mom_.” JJ makes a face at him.

Yuri rolls his eyes and struggles to get to his feet, but JJ’s hands are already holding onto him and keeping him steady when he sways from the gravitational force.

“Careful, _ma reine_.” Yuri is led out of the rink and onto one of the benches stationed closest to them. JJ sits him down before squatting down to remove his skates for him.

“I can do that myself.” But Yuri’s protest falls on deaf ears. Once his skates are removed, JJ gingerly holds onto his left foot and gives it an experimental roll before moving on to Yuri’s right foot when everything is in the green and repeats the action with the exact amount of care. “What are you doing here, JJ?”

The Canadian’s warm hands stop massaging his foot at the question. Yuri sees conflicted emotions flash across deep blue eyes before JJ seems to settle on nonchalance. His callous fingers pick up their work on gently kneading the sole of his right foot, a small quirk of his lips indicates a smile.

“Well, when I came home after buying lunch to find the keys to my parents’ training center gone and you coincidentally missing, I kinda pieced two and two together.”

Yuri resists the urge to roll his eyes at JJ’s sarcastic approach of an answer because his head is starting to throb a little. He doesn’t remember if he hit his head when he fell, but then again he did black out for a solid five seconds so it’s likely. “What about dinner?”

JJ looks at him, his eyes settling to gaze into Yuri’s after roaming his face. “I postponed it.”

Yuri drops his gaze, glaring at his hands gathered in his lap as guilt builds up in his throat. “Why did you do that?”

“Because,” JJ drawls out as he sets Yuri’s leg down and lifts himself to sit on the bench next to the Russian. “I told them the star of the night needed a little more time preparing.”

Yuri drops his head onto JJ’s shoulder, relaxing into the arm that wounds itself around his shoulders. “Are they mad?”

“My parents?” The blond nods, the movement rubbing into the Canadian’s shoulder blade. “Nah. My mom is glad if anything for the set back. She still hasn’t picked out what to wear.”

Yuri lets a small smile slip. He’s not entirely sure if JJ’s only making it up to make him feel better or not, but it eases his anxiousness even by a little. They’ve been dating for a steady three years, going on four in a few more months, but this is going to be the first time Yuri has accepted the annual invite to join the Leroys for a Christmas dinner. He doesn’t mean to always make up excuses to decline it, he’s just scared of what would be waiting for him and it doesn’t help that his mind keeps supplying him with less than likable scenarios.

In all the years they’ve been together, he hasn’t officially met JJ’s parents yet, and that’s only because he’s the one that’s been beating around the bush. It’s easier to avoid the inevitable meeting than he initially thought with how busy he was. When he and JJ finally got together after years of tip toeing around each other, it was during his peak in competitive skating. He was barely in the same country for two weeks before he had to fly across the world to another country for performances and competitions. Everyone, everywhere, wanted to watch him skate live. He was everywhere. On billboards, front covers of magazines, TV shows, the news, commercials, cameo appearances in movies. All eyes were on him, especially since he dominated all the other skaters and no one was on par enough with him to be considered a rival.

He was what everyone called a natural born talent, a one in a million rarity among the stars. The one that was destined to shine the brightest.

Before he knows it, things started to slow down and years have passed. Now, since JJ has become his coach and his boyfriend’s parents funding as his sponsors, Yuri doesn’t have anywhere to run from his anxieties. Worries and fears plague his mind. Questions like ‘what if they don’t like me?’ and ‘what if I ruin our relationship because his parents end up hating me?’ runs in an endless loop inside his head. Yuri has never worried about that before because he was always confident that he could make anyone like him with the way he skates. But this is significantly different than winning over audiences and judges.

JJ senses his anxiousness but doesn’t press him to address them. They sit in silence for a while as Yuri sorts through his thoughts while his boyfriend patiently waits for him until he’s ready to talk. The love JJ has for him never ceases to overwhelm him and Yuri knows, without a shadow of doubt, that JJ will be by his side regardless of where he decides to go on from here. He’ll do the same for JJ, if the time for it arises. Because they’re there for one another, that’s how their relationship works.

With a deep breath, Yuri voices his thought aloud. “I’m going to retire.”

He feels the other tense up beside him, but instead of bombarding him with questions and prodding him for answers, his boyfriend merely hugs him tighter. “I see. We can finally go on a relaxing vacation together.”

They both know he’s not going to retire right away. At least, not until the season is over. Yuri’s not going to stop working hard until he has a spectacularly divine performance to bring to the table for his final curtain call, and JJ’s going to be right by him, supporting him until his very last second on the ice.

“Do you think your parents are going to like me?” Yuri whispers, his eyebrows knitting together and voice trembling slightly.

JJ doesn’t waste a second to cover his lips with his own. “They already do. So don’t worry about it.” He mumbles against his lips.

Yuri lets his eyelashes fan over his cheekbones as he slips his eyes closed. He kisses JJ with abandon, silently berating himself for not appreciating JJ and everything he has done for him in earnest. He melts against the soft nips and the tongue running along the seam of his bottom lip, letting their tongues meet in a dance inside his mouth. Yuri lets out a noise of contentment as JJ frees his hair from its tie and tangles his fingers in the gold strands. When they part, Yuri buries his face into the crook of JJ’s neck, inhaling the familiar scent of home and security.

“Should I wear a suit?”

JJ’s laughter rumbles from his chest, fills the silence and causes warmth to blossom in the fairy’s heart. “We’re having dinner at my parents’ house, _chaton_. What you’re wearing is fine.”

“I’m wearing sweatpants and a t-shirt. It’s not fine.”

“Correction.” JJ interjects, kissing him softly on the lips. “You’re wearing sweatpants and one of _my_ t-shirts. And you look stunning.”

“ _Zatknis’_ , idiot.” His boyfriend grins and nuzzles their noses together.

“ _Je t’aime, ma reine_.” JJ looks him straight in the eyes, an abundance of emotions present in the depths. “No matter what. Always and forever.”

Yuri smiles, closing the tiny distance between them to seal their lips together in a promise. “ _Ya lyublyu tebya vsem serdtsem_.”

“Merry Christmas, Yuri.”

 

**Author's Note:**

> merry christmas to those who celebrate it! sorry if I got any of the french or russian wrong. I relied heavily on google translate although it's not always translated right. feel free to find me on tumblr at [kronerose.](https://kronerose.tumblr.com/)


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